Pilot program seeks to recycle airport's food leftovers

ST. LOUIS — A pilot program under way at Lambert Airport in St. Louis seeks to reduce waste from leftover food.

The airport and food and beverage concessionaire HMSHost are partnering on a three-month pilot program. They're using a grant from the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The program takes food from four restaurants at the airport. It will be processed as compost and sold as soil additives for farms and gardens.

Airport officials say the four restaurants make up about 30 percent of the airport's food and beverage operations.